Seikon no Twilight
by ArenLuxon
Summary: Bella moves to Forks and encounters the Cullen clan, a special type of vampires. The Qwaser-vampires don't feed on blood, but on something else entirely.
1. Chapter 1: Spoons and Cutlery

"What a ridiculous name," Bella said. "Forks."

"Come on Bell," her mom said. "Don't be like that. You're the one who wanted to go."

That was technically true, sort off.

"Look," her mother continued. "Why don't we just cancel this? You can stay here, it's really no-"

"It's okay, mom." _You deserve to be happy with Phil._ The rest of the sentence was implied, but not spoken out loud, as if saying the truth they both knew would make it worse somehow.

"I want to go," Bella said. She was a terrible liar. But if you repeated a lie long enough, it became...actually, it just stayed a lie.

Bella Swan sighed inwardly.

She would miss Phoenix. The scorching heat that tried its best to give her a tan, the city alive every night, her high school friends. Phoenix had a very fitting name, it burned brightly and never died. Forks on the other hand sounded like the most boring place on this god-forsaken continent and, not surprisingly, held the national record for most rainfall. The closest attempt at city was Seattle, with not even half the population of-

"Give my regards to Charlie." The words of her mother snapped her out of the daydream.

"Yeah, sure mom."

"Don't forget that you can come home at any moment. I'll be here for you."

"Don't worry about it, mom," her daughter insisted.

Her mother parked the car at the airport.

She took a deep breath. This was it. The final moments.

"Shall I walk you-"

"It's okay mom," Bella cut her off. She didn't want to draw this out any longer.

"Call me tonight," her mom said.

"Of course." Bella clicked her seatbelt loose. "I love you mom."

"I love you too sweetie." They hugged. Hugging in a car was quite awkward which was very suitable for their situation. Too much had been left unspoken.

Maybe if Bella had offered up a reasonable explanation as to why she wanted to leave, but…

Maybe, she just felt like a bother. Mom had a new life now, and there was no place for her in it. Renée would definitely deny this, but, as she had realised before, repeating a lie does not make it true.

Bella got out and took her bag out of the trunk. She dragged it behind her and walked to the airport. With her trademark clumsiness, she managed to get it stuck in a gutter only five steps away.

 _Please_ , she pleaded. _Let me leave with some dignity._

She pulled hard on the handle and the wheels slid out of the ditch.

Bad omen?

She shrugged and walked on. The glass doors slid open to welcome her to the Phoenix Airport.

Despite the enormous amount of people here, she felt completely alone.

The girl blinked several times and then clutched her plane ticket harder in her hand and made for the gates.

She basically breezed through security. After all, who would bother with a plain looking teenager? By far the most suspicious thing about her was her fair white skin which seemed to defy the burning sun of Phoenix.

First a four-hour plane to Seattle - the last beacon of civilisation - and then, an hour in a small plane that was remarkably full (about ten people) to finally land in Port Angeles. Her book was finished by the time they landed.

Needless to say, it was raining when she arrived.

The arrival hall was almost deserted. She immediately spotted a middle-aged man with black messy hair, a mustache and three day stubbles on his chin. His dark eyes locked with hers for a moment.

"Bells," he said. She was immediately pulled into an awkward one-armed hug, which almost caused her to tip over since she was still holding her bag. However, Charlie's strong hands automatically steadied her. He was used to her clumsiness by now.

"Hey dad," she said.

Her dad was, how else could it be, the Chief of Police. She briefly wondered what exactly his tasks entailed. Like, how many things happened in a town with a only a few thousand people?

Charlie was wearing his uniform, which looked very suitable for the weather here.

Bella on the other hand didn't have much clothes adapted to Forks, since no one in their right mind would wear winter-clothes in Phoenix.

"How's Renée?" Charlie asked.

"She's fine."

And that about exhausted their conversational topics.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Let me help you with that."

She had only one bag and it really wasn't that big of a deal, but Charlie's help wasn't optional.

He guided her to his car: a grey cruiser with the words 'police' printed on the side. This was exactly why she was determined on buying her own car.

He put her only bag in the trunk and got in the driver's seat.

They drove in awkward silence for several minutes. Only the radio provided some distraction as the rural life unfolded in front of her.

Was that a truck carrying trees?

"Your hair is longer," Charlie pointed out.

"I cut it since last time I saw you."

 _Awkward silence._

"Uhum. Must have grown again."

Another awkward silence.

"I found you a car," Charlie said, hoping to get the atmosphere above freezing point.

"What kind of car?" She asked, wary.

"A truck. A Chevy."

"Where did you find it?" Actually, she shouldn't be surprised. This was Forks, all these people drove trucks. How else were they supposed to carry around the weight of living in the middle of nowhere?

"You remember old Billie? Billie Black from La Push?"

"Dad, really?"

"We always went fishing together. He's in a wheelchair now so…" Charlie sensed the conversation was getting boring. "Uhum, in any case, I got you a car." He focused back on his achievement.

"And how old is this car exactly?" His daughter asked, still sceptical.

"Well uhm, a few years."

"A few?"

He looked away. "1984."

"Is that when it was build or when he bought it?"

Charlie turned slightly red. "Bought it. Look Bella, they don't build them like that anymore."

 _For good reasons_. "Was it expensive?"

"It's a homecoming gift from me, I already bought it."

"I was gonna buy my own car you know?"

"Oh," he smiled. "Please tell me, seventeen-year-old daughter of mine, with what money?"

She rolled her eyes. He did have a point there, and… It was the first time she had seen him smile.

Bella smiled softly as well. "Thanks, dad."

He cleared his throat "You're welcome." He looked slightly embarrassed.

They went back to silence, only this time, it wasn't an awkward silence. It was as if they had silently agreed that there was nothing wrong with silence.

"Oh." She turned up the radio when she recognised one of her favorite songs.

To her surprise, Charlie mumbled the words along as the radio played it.

She started to see the beauty of her surroundings. Even though she was determined to hate this place to her very core, she couldn't help but notice how peaceful it was. The trees were everywhere, going back in forth in the wind that slammed raindrops against the windshield before the wipers brushed them away.

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all, she decided. Maybe-

Their journey came to an end when Charlie parked on the driveway.

Waiting there was a truck that had probably been bright red once, but had since faded to a dusty metallic burgundy. It looked very solid for sure. She could probably drive straight through his two-story house without so much as scratching the hood.

She studied it for a moment, but then the rain made her decide to go inside.

Her room smelled of pines and childhood memories.

Charlie hadn't changed anything, save for the ethernet cable that was taped to the floor. Renée had insisted on that. Cell phones did have normal reception here, this was the middle of nowhere, but it was still the United States, although they were pretty close to the Canadian border. But of course, you could as well argue with the trees. Charlie had simply agreed with his ex-wife, as he usually did. Maybe this is what had led to their divorce in the first place.

Her father left her alone so she could unpack. Not that there was much to unpack, but still.

In the bathroom, she found he had cleared some shelves for her, or maybe he just never used them. The latter seemed more likely.

When she was done, she went down to the living room and found him there.

"I need to get back to work," he explained. "Call me in case you need anything."

"Okay dad."

"The keys of your truck are on the kitchen table. See you tonight, Bells."

And with that, she was alone.

A thought hit her.

With a frown, she went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

How on Earth had he survived all these years?

Clearly, Charlie hardly ever cooked and if he did, it looked to be mostly bacon and eggs.

The kitchen was moderately clean though, for a man alone who never used it that is.

She resolved herself to do all the cooking from now on. There was no way she would survive on bacon and eggs.

There had to be a shop out here.

She went back up and booted up the second-hand pc. It took a while, but eventually, her dear friend Google Maps told her all she needed to know.

Time to test out that truck.

It started. Well, it made a sound as if it would die any moment, and the smoke that came out of it couldn't be good for the environment, but it started with very little trouble given its age.

 _Welcome to Forks_ , she thought. _Welcome to nowhere._


	2. Chapter 2: the Boy from Biology

The clouds were still heavily debating whether it would rain or not as she walked outside. For now, they had settled for a light drizzle, as if they were determined to defend their record.

Breakfast had been quiet. Her dad had wished her luck on her first school day and that was more or less the most eventful thing that had happened all morning.

She turned the key and her truck roared to life. She had to admit, she kinda liked it.

It was very calm on the road. After all, no one lived here.

Her school was called 'Forks High School', clearly creativity wasn't valued here. The building mostly consisted of maroon-colored bricks, shaped like large rectangular blocks.

Her first hours went quite smooth. They had handed her a map and a schedule. The outline of the school was pretty simple: rectangular blocks, neatly labeled from 1 to 5, no way to get lost.

At her first class, English, the teacher had simply put her at an empty desk at the back and apart from the occasional glances of her fellow classmates, nothing had happened.

After that class, a boy had walked up to her. He had black hair that shined in a non-natural way and was quite gangly. He introduced himself as 'Eric'. Clearly, he was somehow connected to Charlie because he knew about her, only, he didn't _really_ know about her, otherwise he would never say something like:

"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?"

"Bella," she said, inwardly cringing at the word 'Isabella'.

"Where's your next class?"

She checked her schedule and told him.

"Well I'm headed that way, so I could walk you there…"

As if there was any way to get lost.

 _Would you help me if I was a guy too?_

Still, accepting help wouldn't hurt her, probably.

"So you're from Phoenix?" He said as they walked to building 4.

"Yeah."

"So not used to the rain then?"

"Not really."  
"I thought people from Phoenix would be tanner."

"My mom's part albino."

He frowned. Either he didn't have a sense of humor, or, more likely, her joke was just terrible.

"Well, here we are. Maybe I'll see you around."

She nodded and he left her.

The only really interesting thing happened at lunch. She was sitting in a group of about half a dozen people (mostly girls) who had introduced themselves earlier, but Bella had forgotten their names. They were gossiping and talking about classes. Across the room, virgin-Eric waved at her, but she wasn't looking at him.

There were five of them. They sat at a table in the corner which was strangely isolated. People clearly kept their distances from them on purpose.

Although they had plates of food in front of them, none of them ate anything. That should have been her first clue.

All of them were remarkably beautiful, with smooth porcelain skins. One boy in particular had hair the color of burnt copper. He was the one that looked at her first. He narrowed his eyes, curious, as if there was something that didn't make sense.

That should have been her second clue.

He leaned in and whispered something to a girl with black pixie hair, without breaking eye contact.

Bella was completely mesmerised and kept staring at them.

The pixie girl whispered something back.

"Who are they?" Bella asked, not taking her eyes of them.

"The Cullens," a girl said. "Don't interact with anyone and always together."

"They are all siblings?"

"Not really. All of them are adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife. They moved here from Alaska."

That should have been her third clue. Who could adopt _five_ kids with all the ridiculous paperwork revolving around adoption?

"The one staring at you is Edward," another girl added. "Don't bother with him, he doesn't date anyone."  
Clearly, this girl had been rejected by him.

She saw Edward Cullen again at biology. He was the only one sitting alone, so, obviously, she ended up next to him.

He tried his best not to look at her. His hand was over his mouth and nose as if he was holding his breath. The other one was on the table, the fingers balled into a fist. She saw veins bulging in that hand.

The teacher put two vials between them for the practical exercise of that day.

He pushed one towards her without looking at her and then took the other one.

Bella smelled her hair.

It smelled of shampoo, there really wasn't anything wrong with it.

Right?

What was up with this boy?

She stared at him until he looked at her. There was something strange in his eyes.

Restraint. That was the word she was looking for. Edward Cullen was restraining himself. But against what? Was he a serial killer or something?

She had to be mistaken. Maybe he just didn't like her. But how was that possible? They hadn't even spoken yet.

The tension didn't wear off all class.

When the bell rang, he was outside before her brain had registered class was over.

She felt strangely rejected. The girl had said that Edward never dated, so this most likely wasn't personal, but he didn't have to act like that. Somehow, she still felt personally attacked.

Bella gathered her stuff and went outside.

"Every class is full."

She saw Edward arguing with an old lady outside.

"I'm afraid you'll have to stay in biology," the woman concluded.

"Fine. Guess I'll just have to endure it." His face was strained, as if just sitting next to Bella caused him great pain.

He turned around. His eyes found hers.

Edward quickly broke off eye contact and walked away.

Her legs were suddenly shaking.

 _Endure?_

What was that supposed to mean?

He wanted to change classes because of _her_?

Bella turned around and left the room in the opposite direction of Edward.

She was going in the wrong direction for her next class, but it still took her several minutes before she circled back.

What had she done wrong? She inwardly screamed for an explanation.


	3. Chapter 3: An Eventful Night

The glass rippled under his touch. Then, it changed shape. Without making a sound, it compressed into an orb of glass and floated into the room.

The sudden cold wind made Bella stir in her sleep

"Don't wake her up," Alice whispered a warning.

"I know that."

Together, they floated through the now glassless window into the room.

Alice put them down softly. Edward gestured and the floating orb of glass softly lowered to the ground.

The boy took out a clean rag and a bottle. He sprinkled some of the liquid on the rag and then walked closer to the sleeping beauty.

In a quick movement, he pressed the rag under her nose.

She woke up and struggled, but quickly fell limp.

Edward breathed out. So far so good.

He lowered his hood and took off his sunglasses.

Tomorrow she would surely think this was just a dream. Even if she didn't, there would be no signs of a break-in and she wouldn't be able to recognise him.

He had done this so much it was basically routine, but now it felt differently.

Edwards took the covers and slowly pulled them back.

Bella slept on her back, that would make things easy.

She wore panties and a grey tank top.

He took a deep breath. This was just feeding, nothing more.

Edward took the straps and pulled them down carefully.

Her breasts were very perky. Edward had seen lots of women, but Bella would definitely make his top ten.

He even saw Alice lick her lips, but she restrained herself.

"Remember," Alice spoke softly. "Soma is tied to her lifeforce, if you feed too long, she will die."

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

"Not so sure of that."

"If I don't, I count on you to stop me."

His sister nodded.

Edward took a deep breath and then lowered his mouth to her nipple.

He softly sucked. Bella let out a moan and shifted her position, but she remained fast asleep.

Her Soma was delicious and much stronger than any he had ever tasted before.

Edward's eyes shone red for a moment. He felt his powers surge.

"That's enough." Alice put a hand on his shoulder.

Reluctantly, he released her breast.

Bella was breathing heavily now, as was Edward.

"Strange," Edward said.

"Drinking Soma is known to induce arousal," Alice said as she studied Bella's flushed face.

"But not to that extent." Edward eyed a wet spot in the middle of her white panties.

"Anyway, we should be going now."

"Yeah."

He put her tank top back on and covered her with the blanket.

Alice used her powers to make them float out of the window.

Edward gestured and the glass orb floated back to its place and restored the window in its original state. No one would be able to tell they had broken in.

\

\

Bella woke up.

"Strange dream," she mumbled.

She had dreamt about Edward. It had been a normal dream at first, but then, suddenly, it had turned quite naughty. It had felt so real for a moment she was convinced she had really felt Edward's lips on her body. But the window was closed, as were the doors, so that was obviously impossible.

She pushed away the thoughts of the hot boy and got dressed.

Her father was already eating breakfast. He was dressed in his uniform.

"Dad," she said, hesitantly.

"Yeah?" He looked up from the newspaper.

"No one can get in here at night, right?"

"Of course not," he said. "The doors are locked. Did something happen?"

"No, I had a nightmare." She took the box of cereal.  
"Oh." He looked slightly concerned. "You do look a little pale."

She smiled weakly. "More than usual you mean?"

"I guess you could put it like that."

\

\

There were two classes she dreaded today. In the morning was PE, where she tried to break the world record 'not touching the ball'. At lunch she found herself staring at the Cullens once again. She couldn't help but notice Edward looked much healthier than yesterday. He was less pale and he was laughing more. Apparently, he wasn't permanently gloomy.

But it was biology in the afternoon she dreaded the most.

She seated herself next to Edward Cullen. In her mind she had already demanded an explanation for his behaviour three times, but none of them felt right. Just as she was trying to form words, he spoke to her.

"Hello."

She stared at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get the chance to introduce myself yesterday. I'm Edward Cullen." His voice was very soothing. "You're Bella Swan."

She stared in his coal-black eyes for a moment.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, breathless.

"Everyone knows your name," he said matter-of-factly.

"Uhm."

Luckily, the teacher picked that moment to start the class. They were supposed to separate different stages of mitosis in onion root cells.

"Ladies first," Edward said.

"Uhm, ok." She looked through the microscope. "Prophase," she said after a few seconds.  
"You mind if I check?"

"Go ahead."

"So," he said as he looked through the microscope. "Why did you come here?"

"Sorry?"

"Why would you come to Forks? Don't tell me you like the rain, no one likes rain." He looked back at her.

"You're right. I don't like cold or wet, or..." she shivered.

He chuckled.

"What?" She demanded.

"Nothing." He quickly looked back through the microscope even though they had already clearly established this was prophase.

"So, why are you here then?"

She looked through the window. It was raining quite hard now.

"Well, my mom remarried."

"And you don't like the guy?"

"No, that's not it."

He removed the slide and took another one. "So what is it then?" He looked through the microscope. "Anaphase."

"You mind if I check?"

He smiled. "Go ahead."

It was indeed anaphase. "Phil is really nice," she said. "Anaphase."

"Like I said."  
She took a new slide and put it under the microscope.

"So…" Edward said. "Why didn't you move in with them? Phoenix has nice weather I heard."

"Metaphase," she said. "You want to check?"

"I believe you," he said.

Their eyes locked.

She could have sworn his eyes were coal-black, yet right now, they were gold without a doubt.

"Are you wearing colored contacts?" She asked.

"No," he said. He quickly grabbed the microscope and put the last slide on it, as if they didn't already know that one had to be telophase. "So, why are you here, Bella Swan?"

"Phil is a baseball player and he travels a lot. Mom stayed home with me, but…"

"She deserves to be happy," he finished.

"Something like that."

The bell rang.

She thought he would leave, but he kept walking beside her through the hallway.

"What about your happiness?" He asked.

"I'm not unhappy."  
"Well-"

"My happiness is not dependant on the weather, Edward," she cut him off.

He smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing. You're uhm… fiercer than I thought, very difficult to read."  
Fierce? People had called her many things, but that wasn't one of them.

"You're normally good at reading people?" She asked.

"You could say so."  
"Well then," she said. "What does he think of me?" She subtly gestured towards Eric who was passing them in the opposite direction.

"He's jealous of me," Edward said. "And he likes you."

"You mean he likes my body?"

Edward smiled. "Well, he doesn't like you for your biology skills."

"Figured so."

They reached the end of the hallway.

"Well, I need to get to my next class," Bella said. "I guess I'll see you around."

"You will," he promised. With a little bow, he left her.

"Omg, were you just talking with Edward Cullen?" An overly excited voice said.

"Hey...Jessica," she had to search for the name of the brunette for a second. "Yeah, I guess I was."  
"How did you do that?"

"I don't know. I guess it just happened." Why was she making such a big deal out of this?

All throughout trigonometry Jessica kept droning on and on about Edward. Bella was happy when class was over and she could finally go home.

In the parking lot, she saw the Cullens again. They were standing around a shiny Volvo, all five of them.

Needless to say, it was raining. The pixie girl and a pale redheaded boy shared an umbrella, but Edward, buzz-cut guy and the blondie were unfazed by the falling rain.

Edward was watching her as she walked to her truck. Her hood was raised against the falling drizzle.

Suddenly, she heard something, a car slamming the brakes.

Bella turned and saw a black van racing towards her with screeching tires. In a last desperate attempt to stop the car, the driver had jerked the wheel to the side, but the tires continued to slide on the wet pavement. The van wouldn't stop in time. She would be crushed between the black monster and her own car, that is, if Edward hadn't suddenly appeared.

He pushed her away and then rolled away as well. The van crashed against her truck. Clearly, her truck was far superior since only the right front light was damaged.

Bella scrambled to her feet. The van showed a large dent right in the middle. If it had been any further, the driver would have been hit as well, but now, he was only slightly bleeding on his forehead.

A crowd was quickly gathering. She heard her name vaguely in the distance.

But the only thing she noticed were the Cullens. They didn't seem at all concerned about their brothers safety. Rather, their faces showed...disapproval?

She didn't have time to think about that because she had to use all her mind to convince everyone she was fine. She utterly failed at this and eventually, she yielded and stepped into the ambulance that had arrived by now.

A nurse took her blood pressure on the way which was 'high, but normal given the situation'.

She was treated suspiciously fast given her lack of injury. It was only five minutes before they took her to take X-rays and only moments later the doctor walked in.

"You must be the chief's daughter," he said.

"And you must be Edward's father," she replied. The pale face, unearthly beauty and faded bronze hair left little room for doubt. Yet, weren't all the Cullens adopted?

"I am," he confirmed. "My name is Carlisle."  
That name sounded… ancient.

Dr. Cullen did some basic tests and then declared her perfectly fine.

"You were very lucky," Dr. Cullen said.

"Lucky Edward was standing next to me," she said.

"I heard."  
She decided not to tell him anything about her suspicions. Edward couldn't be that fast. He was standing on the other end of the parking lot just before.

But she would find out what was going on here, and she already knew the perfect place to start. If the Cullens had moved here several years ago, _he_ had to know.


	4. Chapter 4: Port Angeles

Bella parked her car outside. He must have heard her, after all, her car made enough noise to wake bears from their winter sleep.

Not surprisingly, the door opened.

"How are you doing, Jacob?" She greeted him.

His eyes narrowed. "Bella?"

"Long time no see."

It had indeed been a long time. She couldn't even remember last time she had seen Jacob. What she was certain of is that his hair hadn't been that long last time, but his face, tanned skin and dark eyes were still the same, as was his shy character.

"I heard you fixed my car a bit before Charlie bought it," she continued.

"Uhm, yeah. Did it break down? I-"

"No, I just had a little accident, look."

He came closer to check the car. One of her front lights had been smashed.

"Took your turn too broad?" He asked with a half-smile.

"No, a car swerved and almost killed me."

His eyes widened. "Are you okay?"

"Edward saved me. He was surprisingly fast."

"Cullen? Yeah, they are quite fast indeed." He focused back on her car.

"What do you know about the Cullens?" She asked.

"Nothing," he said, too fast.

"Really?"

"I'll fix your light for you," Jacob said. "Come on, let's get it inside."

He was hiding something, that much was certain.

"It shouldn't take long to fix this," he said. "Just need to replace the glass."

He got to work and she…

"So, you're dating Edward?" He asked.

"No. Why?"

"Figured so. The Cullens don't date."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "Think they are too good for others?"

"Why don't you just tell me what you know?"

He took a deep breath. "I really don't know anything. But…"

"Yes?"

"The Cullens arrived here several years ago. But they've been here before. The legends of my tribe mention them. My great-grandfather Ephraim Black made some kind of deal with them, a pact."

"You mean with their ancestors?"

"Nope, with them. They mention Carlisle by name."

"That's impossible."

"I'm technically not allowed to tell you anything, but well, they are just legends, right?"

"And what do these legends say?"

"They are called 'the Cold Ones'. But these are different from the others, that's why my great-grandfather made a pact with them and they were allowed to stay here. Normally, the Cold Ones are our mortal enemies."

"The mortal enemies of _what_?"

He flashed a wolfish grin. "Of the Quileute tribe, who are obviously descended from wolves."

"Of course," she said dryly.

This would get her nowhere. Edward's speed and eye color were strange, but not strange enough to make her accept some weird tribe legend about werewolves and 'Cold Ones'.

Yet.

"How are they different?"

"Huh?" Jacob looked up.

"You said they were different from the usual 'Cold Ones', how?"

"Oh, still going on about that legend. Well, all Cold Ones feed on the life energy of normal humans. Regular Cold Ones do this by sucking out blood, but they feed on something else."

"Wait. Are you trying to tell me that the Cullens are vampires?"

"No, no, vampires feed on blood, the Cullens don't feed on blood. That's what makes them different and why they can stay here."

"If they are not feeding on blood, then what are they feeding on?"

Jacob shrugged. "I asked that many times when I was young, but dad always avoided the question. It must be something weird."

She thought back to the dream she had. Edward had acted very cheerful after that night. Maybe they fed on sexual energy? After all, her dream-

No, no, that was completely ridiculous. What was she even going on about? Vampires, werewolves, those were just stories told to scare little children. Edward was just a hot boy who had somehow saved her. She must have seen it wrong. He was standing next to her before the car, he didn't move that fast. She had just missed it. Yes, she convinced herself. That was it. Enough with the stupid legends.

\

\

She saw it wrong, right? Her eyes were mistaken, like the accident with Edward. It couldn't be. Forks had a record to defend. Yet, her eyes were not deceiving her.

Just as she had started thinking the clouds would never clear up, she woke up to a clear sky with sunlight spilling through the curtains. Sunlight! In Forks! Who would have thought such a thing were possible?

However, just as she thought this would become a perfect day…

"Where is Edward?"

"The Cullens always leave whenever the sun shines," Jessica explained. "They go hiking."

"I see."

Of course. Vampires could not go out in the sunlight. They were at home, cowering in their coffins.

She chuckled at the thought.

"Hey, Bella," Jessica awakened her from her daydream. "You want to go with us to Port Angeles?"  
"To do what?"

"Go shopping, obviously."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, it sounds fun."

\

\

'Cold Ones'.

The computer buzzed and then gave her a list of search results. She found lots of crap at first, but then, almost by accident, she stumbled on a book that contained exactly what she was looking for. 'Legends of the Quileute tribe'.

Maybe Jacob did not know what the Cullens fed on, but this book contained the original legends so it had to mention it. And she was in Port Angeles anyway, so why shouldn't she pick it up? Even if it was worthless, which it probably would be, it might still be an interesting read, just as a work of fiction.

\

\

"Yeah, looks great," she said. She was out shopping with Jessica and the bespectacled girl called Angela.

"You said those exact words about the last five dresses," Jessica pointed out.

"Oh, sorry. Well, you really do look great in all of them."

"Shopping isn't really your thing, is it?"

"Well, I have something else on my mind right now."

"Edward?"

"Of course not." She felt her cheeks burning. "I just got a little errand to run. How about I meet you guys later for dinner?"

"Uhm, yeah, sure." They both looked a bit confused.

She left them to their shopping and walked to the bookstore.

It was already getting quite late. Soon, it would be dark.

A prickling sensation ran across her spine.

She was being followed. Two guys, both quite drunk, were trailing behind her.

When she sped up, they did the same.

She had noticed the streets were getting smaller on her way to the bookstore. Clearly this wasn't the safest part in the city.

From the other side, two other guys appeared.

"Hey gorgeous," one of them said.

She cursed inwardly. Suddenly, she was surrounded by four quite drunk guys.

"Look," she said, "Just let me through." Her hand clutched the pepper spray in her pocket. When Charlie had forced it on her she had waved it away, but he had been quite persistent on it. Either she would take it with her, or she could forget her little trip to Port Angeles.

She inwardly apologized to her father.

"Just go have a drink with us," another guy said.

"Yeah," another confirmed.

"Get out of my way, now." She knew she would have a hard time dealing with all of them, but she had little choice left.

"Oh, a fierce one." He tried putting his hand on her shoulder but she pulled away, and bumped against another guy.

If she wanted to do something, she better do it now. Else they might get suspicious of her hand which hadn't left her pocket. Yet…

"Is there a problem?" A familiar voice interrupted them.

The guys all turned.

Edward? What the hell was Cullen doing here?

"It's none of your business, pal. Move along."

Edward smiled. "I believe it is. You're harassing a classmate of mine."

"Oh, is she your girlfriend?" The biggest one grabbed the collar of his jacket. "I said back off."

She had a hard time following what happened next. What she was certain of was this. One moment, the guy, who was a head taller than Edward, was holding his jacket. The next moment, the same guy was on his back a step away. He didn't move which made her suspect he was unconscious.

"Now," Edward said. He cracked his knuckles. "Anyone else has something stupid to say?"

"I believe we were just on our way," one of them said. He took a few steps backwards and then practically ran away. The other two quickly scurried after him.

"Are you stalking me?" Bella asked.

"A little, but you should be glad, I just saved your ass. Not to mention the rest of your body." He chuckled at his own joke. They walked back through the alley.

"I didn't need your help, and that stalking part was not a joke."

"The pepper spray in your pocket wouldn't have held off all four of them."

"How do you know about-"

"Your dad is a police officer, of course he gave you something to defend yourself. What were you even doing there?"

"Getting a book. _Legends of the Quileute tribe_."

He threw her a sharp glance but didn't say anything.

"Actually," she said, turning around. "I still need that book. So I'm gonna go get it."

"Wait," he gave in. "How about this? I'll tell you what's in that book. And you allow me to give you a lift back to your friends. And you promise not to wander off again."

"Now now, how would you know what's in that book?"

"Let's stop playing games, shall we?"

"Fine, I won't wander off again. But you have to tell me everything you know."

"Everything? That's a bit much. I might as well let you get that book and follow you. Not like you can stop me."

"I have pepper spray."

He smiled. "Try me."

She chewed on her lip. "Okay, okay. You don't have to tell me _everything_. Just some basic stuff."

"Like what?"

"What are you?"

Their eyes locked.

"I'm a Qwaser-vampire."

"Uhm, okay?"

"I'll explain it to you on the way," he said as he started walking. "Unless you prefer to stay here of course?"

She shrugged and followed him to his shiny car which was parked right around the corner.

"Regular vampires have retractable fangs which they use to feed on people," he said as he shifted into first gear. "Usually this kills their victim, especially with a young vampire. Occasionally, if a vampire has more control, he doesn't feed that long and his venom can create a new vampire."

"So do you have a reflection in the mirror?"

"Of course I have a reflection. What kind of crap have you been reading?" He seemed genuinely offended. "Anyway, vampires have enhanced speed and strength. They also tend to be quite beautiful and don't need to sleep. Their regenerative powers are incredible. One of the only ways to kill a vampire is to burn him."

"Lots of cool perks," she commented. Enhanced speed? That explained how he had gotten to her so fast at the accident. "So, no weaknesses?"

"The Volturi."

"The what?"

"Vampire overlords. They're like royalty. They enforce the rules of our society. The most important one is the one I'm breaking right now."

"Don't tell anyone about vampires?"

"Exactly. If mortals found out, they wouldn't stand for it. Huge armies would be raised until all vampires were exterminated. Not to mention our natural enemies: the werewolves."

"Werewolves?"

"Yep. When vampires are near, the ones with the blood of the wolf can get triggered and shapeshift into wolves. The more vampires, the stronger this effect. They can match the strength of regular vampires so we can't just go around killing people. Normal vampires travel around in small covens to avoid suspicion."

"But you are not normal vampires?"

"No. We are the strongest and rarest breed of them all: Qwaser-vampires."

"And what does that mean?"

"While we can feed on blood, we don't have to. We can also use the power source of the Qwasers."

"And what are Qwasers?"

"People with the power to manipulate a specific element," he said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, I was with you up until the whole vampire part, but this is ridiculous."

"Is it?" He pulled over and gestured with his hand.

The windshield melted away and formed a sphere of glass which floated in front of her face.

"Silicon," Edward said. "You believe me now?"

"Uhm, yeah."

He gestured and the glass formed a windshield once again.

Edward drove on.

It was quiet for a moment.

"There they are," Bella pointed.

Edward parked the car.

"Bella, where have you been? We've been worried sick." Jessica looked concerned, and then shocked when she saw Edward.

"My apologies," Edward said. "I ran into her and we started talking."

"We kinda already ate," Angela admitted. "Jessica was like, starving."

"That's okay," Bella said.

"We were just leaving," Jessica said, smiling broadly, as if they were interrupting a date.

"Yeah," Angela added.

"Look," Edward said. "I kept her busy, so I should make sure she gets something to eat. I'll drive her home myself afterwards."

"That's so thoughtful," Jessica said. She was overacting a bit.

"Well, Bella, see you tomorrow then," Angela said. Both girls threw her a meaningful smile. Bella sensed an elaborate interrogatory coming up tomorrow.

"See you tomorrow," Jessica added.

Then, they were gone.

"They'll have a lot of questions for you tomorrow," Edward said, a little smile playing around his lips.

She sighed. "I know."

"Come on, dinner is on me."

"You don't have to-"

"Did that sound like a question, Bella?"

"Uhm, no."

"That's because it wasn't."

He reminded her a bit of Charlie. He had been equally stubborn about the pepper spray. But then again, he was right. Not that she would ever admit that.

They sat down in the restaurant. A waitress quickly came up to them.

"What can I get you?" She asked.

Bella ordered a spaghetti and a coke. She wasn't in the mood to go through a menu. Edward…

"Nothing, thank you."

"You sure I can't get you anything?" The waitress asked.

"I'm fine, thank you," Edward said.

"As you wish." She left them.

Bella smiled. "What do you tell people when they ask?"

"You think I go out with girls every week?"

"Go out?"

"Uhum." He cleared his throat and looked away. "You get my point."

"But you do have an official version right? Or do you just tell everyone you're a-"

"I'm on a special diet."

"Oh. Clever."

He lowered his voice. "Our digestive system doesn't work. So while we can eat, it doesn't provide us with sustenance."

"And does it-"

"Let's not get into the details please." He looked a bit sick as his eyes scanned the restaurant.

"But you do drink blood, so how does that work?"

"Well we don't drink blood, usually. But I'm not familiar with the details, maybe Carlisle knows. All I know is that human food doesn't digest at all."

"If you don't drink blood, then what do you drink?"

For the first time ever, Edward blushed. His pale skin turned a slightly darker pink shade. "I prefer not to get into that right now."

"I could still go and get that book."

"You won't find it in there. The author was too embarrassed to write it down so he called it by its formal name."

"Which is?"

"Soma. But don't think that word will get you anywhere."

"But you don't need to kill people to obtain it? That's why you can stay here permanently."

"Technically you can kill people if you feed too long. But yes, it leaves no scars or marks. The ones you feed on might feel a little dizzy in the morning, but no other-"

"Did you feed on me?" She threw him a sharp glare.

"Well, uhm… I uhm. Look there is an Italian phrase which-"

"I asked you a question, Edward."

He looked down. "Yes. I'm really sorry."

The waitress brought their food at that point. Well, _her_ food.

Bella waited a bit before she spoke.

"Well, it's fine I guess. You need to feed to stay alive after all. And you said there are no aftereffects."

He looked relieved. "None, you don't have to worry. Look, I'd prefer it if we didn't have to do this, but we need Soma to stay alive. So while I don't like it, we have to secretly feed on sleeping girls and you just happened to-"

"Girls? You said _girls_ , not _people_."

"Only females produce Soma."

"Do I really want to know what Soma is?"

"If you don't mind, I'd prefer telling you when we're not in a crowded restaurant."

"I'm starting to think that I should be angry about you 'feeding' on me."

"Yeah, probably." In Charlie-terms that was 'sexual assault'. Not to mention 'breaking and entering'.

"But I'll let it go for now."

He let out a breath of relief. He was lucky he was already dead, cause if she found out, she would probably kill him. If Charlie didn't kill him first.


	5. Chapter 5: answers

"I think I'm warm enough now," Bella said. Both of them reached for the heater simultaneously. Their hands briefly touched.

"You're…" _Oh, of course_. "Jacob called you the Cold Ones."

Edward smiled. "Very original. Should have known you would do your research after the accident."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"You said the most important law is not telling anyone about your existence. Yet you told me with little trouble. Isn't that dangerous?"

"You're my Singer. But in any case, the Volturi won't interfere even if they find out. They fear us too much."

"Why?" _And what was that Singer-part about?_

He chuckled. "That little trick with the glass. That's nothing. With the right Soma, I can manipulate the silicon inside minerals. If I apply that trick on key points in a building I can make it collapse. And I'm one of the weakest in terms of Qwaser-powers."

 _Right Soma? Did he mean… her Soma?_

Their conversation was cut short by a sudden development. The police station appeared in the distance. With lots of flickering blue lights around it.

"Pull over," Bella said. She looked at the sirens. There was still a disturbing amount of activity at the police station given the hour.

"Was planning to anyway," Edward replied. He parked his car and got out.

"That's my dad's cruiser," Bella said. What was going on here?

"That fancy thing behind it is my father's car."

"What are the both of them doing here?" Something must have happened.

"I smell blood," Edward said.

She felt a shiver creeping along her spine. What if something had happened to her dad? Being a police officer was a pretty dangerous job after all. What if-

Someone walked out of the building. Someone she recognised.

"Dad," Edward said. "What are you doing here?"

"They found Waylon Forge in his boat. I just examined his body."

"He's dead?" Bella asked. Waylon? She had heard that name before.

"Animal attack," Carlisle said.

"What… kind of animal?" Bella asked, narrowing her eyes.

Edward and his father shared a look.

"I told her," Edward said.

"Oh. Well in that case, our kind, regular ones."

"And that security guard back at Mason?" Bella asked.

"Same."

"The tribes might suspect us," Edward said.

"Why would we suddenly feed on blood if we can feed on-"

Edward silenced his father with a look.

"You haven't told her yet," Carlisle realised. "In any case," he turned back to Bella. "Waylon was a friend of your father, you should go inside." He paused for a second. "You understand you can't tell anyone about… us."

"I wasn't going to. I'll uhm… see you later, Edward."

\

She did see him later. After her last class, biology, he walked with her outside.

"You mind if we take a walk?" She asked. "I want to ask you some things."

"Sure."

They went inside the forest.

"I have to say, you're surprisingly non-scared. I am still a vampire you know?"

She chuckled. "But you never feed on blood, do you?"

He looked away. "Not anymore."

"Anymore?" _Wait a minute. Maybe she should be scared after all?_

"There is another important law of the vampires. We don't interfere with humans. You can probably understand why it would be a problem if vampires participated in a world war or something, given our strength. But not interfering is harder on some of us."

"You fought in the war?"

"No. But I did kill a few individuals." He saw the way she looked at him. "They were all criminals," he clarified. "Esmee, my adoptive mother was abused by her husband."

"Oh."

"There was one particular day when he had beaten her almost to death. Carlisle had to turn her into a vampire to save her. I uhm… sort of killed him after that. He didn't feel the slightest remorse over his actions."

"How do you know that? How do you know what he was thinking?"

"When a person becomes a vampire, they gain a special power based upon their personality and skills. I was very good at reading people when I was a human, so…"

"You can read minds?" For some reason, that idea scared her even more than sucking blood. Did he know what she was thinking?

"Yes. But you seem to be immune to my mind reading. That's what interested me about you in the first place."

"How is that possible?" She was immune? That was certainly a relief, but, _how_?

"Some humans have gifts as well," Edward said. "Usually they stay dormant unless they become a vampire, but occasionally, a gift can awaken without becoming a vampire. Especially if it's a gift like that."

A gift she would have never noticed she had if not for Edward.

"But," she said, going back to their initial subject. "You haven't killed anyone recently?"

"Not the last seventy years or so."

"Seventy… just how old are you?"

"I was born in 1901 and died in 1918 from Spanish influenza. Carlisle turned me as it was the only way to save me."

"Oh. So you have to be dying to… become a vampire."

"No. But… some people believe that… we have no soul. That there is no afterlife for us."

She chuckled. "You believe in an afterlife?"

"I don't know. In any case, as you probably figured out, we do not age. And for the people close to us it's pretty obvious that there is some weird stuff going on. Imagine I turned you into a vampire, how would you explain that to your father? 'Hey dad, yeah, my eye color changed and my skin got even paler. I don't have a heartbeat, I hardly blink, I don't age and my skin is ice cold. Also, I'm not allowed to tell you anything'. When you become a vampire, the only option is to abandon all your loved ones to prevent them from finding out. But if someone is dying anyway, and you could offer them a second chance? Well, why not?"

Actually, she had dreamed last night about becoming a vampire and living together with Edward for all eternity, but those issues hadn't crossed her mind back then. He was right, if she became a vampire, she would have to abandon Charlie and mom. That was why the Cullens kept their distance from everyone else at school. The only ones she would ever have any contact with would be other vampires. Qwaser-vampires, not the blood-sucking type.

"So, the only ones you ever have contact with are your family?" She wanted to confirm her suspicion.

"There is one more coven: the Denali. We call them vegetarians cause they feed on animal blood."

"You can do that?"

"Carlisle discovered it. It keeps them alive, but never fully satisfied."

"And other than that?"

"We occasionally meet other vampires, but they can't stay long, obviously."

"I see."

"Why don't you ask me what you really want to ask?" He showed her a half-smile.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, I can't read your mind, but yes, it's that obvious."

She took a deep breath. "Back in the car, you called me your Singer. What does that mean?"

"The Volturi call it 'la tua cantante'. As we are vampires, the scent of humans, and especially their blood, is appealing to us. But there is a difference in strength. Usually, male vampires are more attracted to female blood and the reverse is true for female vampires."

"And my blood is particularly appealing to you?"

"Sometimes, a human is almost impossible to resist for a certain vampire. You are my Singer."

"Yet you haven't fed on my blood."  
"No, but I did feed on your Soma."

"And I still want to know what the hell Soma is. I searched the net for hours, but I couldn't find anything."

He chuckled. "I told you, the word will get you nowhere. Look, I will tell you, eventually, but not now."

"Fine, then I want something in return."

"What?"  
"A date."

There was a short silence. Then, he chuckled again.

"That's blackmail, Miss Swan."

"I don't know what Soma is, but it's probably illegal to feed on it. Not to mention you broke into my house. My dad is a cop in case you forgot."

"I'm a vampire. It's probably best to keep your distance from me. Your scent is quite appealing to me. I have plenty of self-control, but if you would actually start bleeding in front of me, I don't know what would happen."

"I wasn't planning to start bleeding in front of you."

"But you are quite clumsy."

Bella turned bright red. That was hard to deny.

"How about we go hiking?" Edward proposed. "It's not exactly a date, but it could be fun. They predict no rain this Saturday, for a change."

"I… okay."

"Good, I'll pick you up on Saturday then."

Look at that. She had a date with Edward Cullen. Well, not exactly a date, but close enough.


	6. Chapter 6: the Hike

The doorbell rang at 9 am sharp.

Bella waited to open it. Of course, she had been hovering in the hallway for the last five minutes, but if she opened too fast, she would seem too eager. But she couldn't let him wait too long either.

With these two things in mind, a few seconds seemed okay.

Bella took a deep breath and opened the door.

"You look good," Edward said. He took off his sunglasses and eyed her. His eyes were gold, but she was certain she had seen different colors before.

"Thanks." Bella was blushing heavily. She really wasn't wearing anything special. Since they would go hiking, she had put on her favorite jeans with a grey shirt and a blue hoodie. The zipper was open even though it wasn't that warm outside.

Well, she wasn't wearing anything special, but she had specifically picked her outfit to appear that way.

And, in all honesty, she had done her make-up and hair quite extensively before he arrived. She hoped it wasn't too obvious she had been up for a while now.

Edward himself was dressed in black pants and a light-blue button down with a grey coat over it. As always, his clothes fit perfectly. They had to be tailored to his size or something.

"Come on in," she said, stepping aside.

Her dad was waiting in the living room. He was busy checking his fishing gear, since those were his plans for today.

"Chief Swan," Edward said. "I would like to formally introduce myself: I'm Edward Cullen." He held out his hand.

"Hi, Edward."

They shook hands. Charlie seemed a bit taken back by Edward's formal greeting.

"We're just gonna go hiking today," the vampire said. "I'll make sure she's back before dinnertime."

"Hiking?" Charlie chuckled. "Bella is gonna go hiking?"

"Yes, sir, that's the plan."

"Well, have fun then," Charlie said.

"I'll take good care of her," Edward assured him.

They went back to the hallway.

"You overdid it a bit," Bella said softly.

Edward shrugged. "Your dad knows how to shoot a gun, not about to take any risks."

She smiled as she put on her hiking boots. "If only he knew you're actually a bloodthirsty vampire who's praying on innocent girls."

"Well, most vampires prefer the blood of virgins, so you're probably right."

"Who says I'm a virgin?"

Edward flashed a smile. "I told you, I'm good at reading people."

"I'm starting to doubt whether you can read my mind." She stood up and put on her jacket. "I guess you're not a virgin, Mr. 104 year old." She tried to sound casually, as if she hadn't waited several days for an opportunity to ask him that.

"You guessed wrong then." He opened the door, took a few steps and then realised Bella was not following him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she quickly said. "I was just… surprised." She quickly joined them.

"What did you expect?" Edward asked. "Other vampires are bloodsucking monsters and a relationship with a human would be way too dangerous. Vampires tend to lose control when they… you know."

"I guess. But you could turn a human you fell in love with." They got in his car.

"When a vampire tastes blood, a sort of frenzy begins," Edward explained. "Very few vampires are able to stop once they begin feeding." He put the car in first. "We only do it on people who are dying, not only because they have to leave their loved ones behind, but also because it is very dangerous."

"I see." So becoming a vampire wasn't as simple as she had assumed?

"Not to mention newborn vampires usually have a hard time controlling their thirst for blood, even for Qwaser-types."

"So," Bella said. "You've been alone? All this time?"

"I never had a girlfriend if that's what you're asking."  
Wow. He had lived over a century without a single girlfriend? That sounded pretty lonely.

Edward drove her to the woods where they got out and started hiking.

They talked about all kinds of things, from school over their past to the books he liked. He seemed to have read every book she could come up with. He told her in detail about the night Carlisle had turned him. He had been a boy of seventeen back then, dying of Spanish influenza.

She tried asking him again what Soma was, but he dismissed her question.

All too soon, their 'date' was over and she was back home.

"Well," Edward said. "Guess I'll see you at school."

"Yeah." Was she supposed to kiss him? She knew she wanted to, but, given that he was a virgin and the way he could react extreme sometimes, she couldn't-

Edward leaned in and gave her a kiss on her cheek. The spot where his lips had touched burned.

"I had fun," Edward said.

Before she could say anything, he was back in his car.

She vaguely waved as he drove away.

"Me too," she said, although he was already out of sight.

She stood there for a while before she woke up from her partial-trance and went inside.

Charlie wasn't home. Yet the door had been open, so…

She spotted him through the window.

Bella frowned and went outside.

"Hey dad," she said.

"Hey Bells," he replied.

Her dad was roasting fish on a barbeque. It seemed like their fishing trip was a success.

Billy Black and Harry Clearwater, his two best friends, were sitting at their garden table, both with a beer. Next to them was Jacob.

"Been a while," he said, a wolfish grin on his face.

"Yeah."

"I heard you're dating Edward Cullen now."

The mood visibly changed. Billy Black narrowed his eyes, clearly not approving of this reveal.

"They just went hiking," Charlie said.

"Who knows what they did in that forest," Jacob said, still grinning.

"Edward is a fine young man," Charlie said. "Very polite."

Couldn't they talk about something else?

"So," Bella said. "How single are you now, Jacob?"

It had been a guess, but clearly, she had hit bullseye since he turned red and avoided her gaze. She heard Billy chuckle.

"Fish is almost ready," Charlie said.

"I'll get some plates and cutlery," Bella said. "Unless you were planning to eat like cavemen?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Charlie joked.

She tried to think of a good pun about Forks and cutlery, but she found none, so she went inside.

Their barbeque was fun. Billy tried to hear her out about Edward a few times, but Harry and Charlie steered him away every time. Jacob talked about his friends at La Push. He told her a story about cliff-diving, but because Billy was present at the table, there were some obvious alterations done to make it appear less irresponsible, which made it ten times funnier than it really was.

When they left, it was already late. From the hiking, she was already tired so she decided to go straight to bed. After brushing her teeth, she changed into her usual attire of a tank-top and panties and got in bed.

She was half-asleep when she suddenly felt it. A weird sensation that made the hairs on her neck stand up.

She listened intensely, but heard nothing.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. A shadow was standing near her desk.

Bella jerked upright.

Nothing. Her room looked perfectly normal, the shadow was gone.

Strange.

She was probably just imagining things.


	7. Chapter 7: Meet the Cullens

With a soft thump he landed on her car.

"Seriously?" She said.

"Sorry," he replied while climbing of the hood.

"You're not sorry."

"No, I'm not," he confirmed.

"Idiot." She focused back on washing her car. For some reason, it changed color the more she scrubbed it. Beneath all the dirt, there seemed to be some bright red hiding.

"I'm going to take you to my house," Edward announced. He was really relaxed today.

"Uhm, okay." She liked that idea. "But, what if they don't like me?"

He chuckled. "I just said I would take you to a house full of vampires and your first concern is they won't like you?"

"Yeah. Of course. They won't try to drink my blood, right?"

"No, but maybe your Soma."

"I wonder how that would look like."

"Keep wondering."  
"Look, Edward-"

"Qwaser-vampires have highly superior self-control. No one will do anything weird. Well, you know, not to you personally. They are still weird though."

"Do they-"

Edward was looking at something. His expression darkened.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Trouble. I'll see you tomorrow."

He seemed to vanish into thin air the next moment.

Not even two seconds later, a big SUV parked where he had just been.

"Hey, Bella," Jacob said. He walked around and took out the wheelchair for Old Billie Black.

"Here for my dad?" Bella asked Old Billie.

"For your flat-screen," Old Billie replied. "First game of the season. And well, Jacob was bugging me to see you."

"No I wasn't," Jacob said. He handed Billie a six-pack of beers.

"Hey, Billie." Charlie joined them. He was holding another six-pack of identical drinks. These two were really made for each other.

"Any progress on Waylon?" Billie asked as his friend pushed him to the door.

"I don't think it was an animal that killed him," Charlie replied.

"Never believed it was."

"Animals don't randomly attack people and if they did, at least they would eat part of the body. Animals don't kill for sport after all," Charlie added as if he needed to explain himself. "In any case, keep the kids out of the woods."

"Will do. After all," he looked straight at Bella. "We don't want anyone else getting hurt, do we?"

 _The Cullens have nothing to do with this, asshole._

Billie and Charlie went inside.

"You should be careful," Jacob warned her. "The Cullens can't be trusted."

He went inside as well.

She wondered how Jacob was involved in all this. Did he know about the vampires? How could he know that?

* * *

"So," Edward said as he drove his car through the narrow winding road. "Nervous?"

"A bit," she said. _Understatement of the year_. "Hey uhm, do the others have, you know, _powers_?"

"Not much. Emmett is unusually strong, Rosalie has some, well, _seduction_ powers, but not much to speak of. Carlisle has compassion."

"Compassion?"

"I told you Qwaser-vampires have exceptional self-control, and while that is true, if a human would start bleeding right in front of them, even a Qwaser-vampire would have a very hard time controlling himself."

"But Carlisle is a doctor," she said.

"Hence his powers. Perfect self-control. Even when a human bleeds right in front of him, his hands don't even tremble."

Bella nodded. "I understand. And the others?" She really wanted to know everything now.

"Esmee has no powers to speak of, maybe love for her children, but that's stretching it a bit. Jasper has something tied to his Qwaser-powers: atmosphere control. His element is sodium and by manipulating the sodium-potassium channels in your nerves, he can change your mood." _Or paralyse you._

"So, he can like, calm someone down?"

"That's usually what he does yeah. Since it's based on his Qwaser-powers, I doubt you'll be able to escape it."

She nodded once again. "And what about the last one? The pixie-girl?"

Edward chuckled. "Alice will like that nickname. She can, oh, we're here." He turned on the driveway.

"Hey, don't keep me in suspense."

"She can tell you herself, come on." Edward got out and then used his speed to run around the car in a second and open the door for her. Always the gentleman. The house was huge. Built basically in the woods from glass and wood it was quite pittoresque. It reminded her of some pictures she had seen in children's books. Hansel and Gretel and such.

Edward guided her inside

"Now we can finally use the kitchen," she heard a voice say in the distance.

"Is she even Italian?" Another voice said.

"Her name is Bella," the first voice argued.

"I'm sure she'll love it either way." That was Carlisle.

"I told you," Edward said in a low voice as he took her coat. "They probably went all out in the kitchen."

"It's so… open." They had used so much glass in the walls they might as well have not been there. It looked like they had just built a hall on an open spot in the middle of a forest.

"What did you expect? Coffins? Dungeons? Oh, wait, chains?"

"Something like that," she said. "Have you been thinking about that joke all night?"

"Vampires don't sleep," he reminded her. "I have to do something at night."

"You probably just binge-watch Netflix every night."

He didn't reply.

They walked up a flight of stairs. There were a few expensive looking paintings on the white walls.

"Just so you know," Edward said. "I told them not to do this."

"But you knew they were going to do it anyway?"

"Yeah."

They arrived in a spacious kitchen. The Cullens were all busy making food.

A bronze haired woman walked up to her. "Bella, we're making Italian for you."

"Bella, this is Esme, my uhm… mother. You know what I mean."

"Nice to meet you," Bella said. What else was she supposed to say?

"You've given us an excuse to use the kitchen," Carlisle said.

She smiled. "Glad to help out."

She was originally planning to eat before coming here, since none of them ate actual food, so it seemed polite, but Edward had warned her they were planning this. It was hard to keep things secret with a mind-reader in the house.

The biggest one of them all walked up to her. He had black hair in a marine cut. "I'm Emmett," he introduced himself. She had kinda guessed that already.

Bella shook his big hand.

This left only the blonde girl. She was wearing heels, a strange locket around her neck and black gloves. For some reason, Bella disliked her already.

"That's Rosalie," Edward said. "Just ignore her."

"Yeah," Rosalie snapped. "Just ignore me. Just ignore how dangerous this is. Everyone will be affected if this ends badly."

"With end badly, you mean that, I would become the meal?"

Everyone chuckled at her joke.

The glass bowl Rosalie was carrying snapped in two. The two pieces fell to the floor and scattered into even more pieces. Without bothering, she walked over to the side and stood next to Emmett. "This is not funny," she said. "We may be a special subtype, but she is still human."

"I won't tell anyone," Bella said. "I swear."

"Rosalie," Carlisle said, his voice calm. "Clean up that mess."

She looked like she would protest for a second, but then she reconsidered. Clearly, Carlisle was the authority in this house.

Technically, Edward could make that thing whole again using his powers since glass was made out of silicon, but he didn't seem keen on helping out his _sister_.

"We've prepared for this," Carlisle said. "All of you have been feeding on animal blood this week safe for me. Your Qwaser-powers are depleted. If necessary I can hold all of you off. But it doesn't seem like it will be necessary. So, Rosalie, please tell me. Do you doubt I can take you without your element?"

Emmett chuckled. "Even with her element you could take her."

Rosalie jabbed him in the stomach.

Just how much had they started preparing for her arrival? A week in advance? Edward had sounded spontaneous when he invited her, yet clearly they had been preparing this for a long time.

"This is the first time a human has come to visit," Edward explained. "As a safety mechanism, we didn't drink Soma for a week. We can survive on animal blood, but that depletes our Qwaser-powers."

"So, no glass tricks?" She asked.

"Nope, sorry."

"And which element is-"

"Bella," a new voice said. She was suddenly hugged by pixie-girl who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "I'm Alice."

Everyone was stunned at that.

"Oh, don't worry," Alice explained herself. "We're gonna be best friends in the future. Boy, she does smell good."

The one who had been trailing behind Alice kept his distance. His eyes were wide and fixed on Bella.

"Jasper joined us quite recently," Carlisle explained. "He didn't know he was a Qwaser-vampire before. Or that he could survive on animal blood."

"It's okay," Alice said. "You won't hurt her."

Jasper cleared his throat. "A pleasure to meet you." His voice was a bit strained and he still kept the same distance.

"It's primarily a confidence-problem I believe," Carlisle added. "But you must be hungry."

"Watch out for the glass," Edward warned her as she walked to the kitchen table.

She was acutely aware that Carlisle and Edward both kept their eyes fixed on her.

As she sat down, Carlisle, Emmett, Esme and Alice all started putting food in front of her. Rosalie seemed to have mysteriously disappeared after cleaning up.

"Did you cook for an entire army?" Edward asked as he looked at the ridiculous amount of food.

Carlisle raised an eyebrow. "Did you think Alice would let us do anything less?"

It was a bit awkward since she was the only one actually eating while everyone else just sort of hovered around.

"I've been meaning to ask," Bella said. "What element is Carlisle that all of you are so confident he can handle all of you?"

Edward smiled. "A Holy Trinity element."

"A _what_?"

"The elements that make up the air," Carlisle said. "Nitrogen, oxygen and argon. The only ones with an unlimited supply. Save for silicon maybe."

"So, you're nitrogen then?" Bella asked.

"That would be Alice. I have oxygen."

So Carlisle could basically manipulate the air itself? And make people choke by removing their oxygen supply.

Now she understood why the Volturi feared them so much.

"Vampires don't need to breath as we are undead," Carlisle said. "But by compressing the oxygen in the air you can create barriers. And you can corrode metals."

She really had underestimated his powers.

When she was done eating, she wanted to help clean the table, but the others were too quick. Before she could stand up the table was already cleared.

"Come on," Edward said. "I'll give you a tour of the house."  
They took another flight of stairs up. On their way she saw a huge artwork made out of…

"You're kidding right?"

"Oh, private joke," Edward said. "We graduate a lot."

They had arranged a huge amount of graduation caps into a frame. It looked quite strange.

"Sounds sad, repeating high school over and over."

"We need to start out young," Edward said. "If we want to stay for a while. Soon, people will start to notice we don't age and then we'll move again."

"Back to Alaska?"

"Maybe Canada. We'll see, there is still some time."

But they were moving, eventually. And what would she do then?

He opened the door to his room.

"This is my place," he said.

The room looked like a crossover between a hospital room and a library. The floor was white with a grey carpet covering half of it. There were no walls, only bookshelves and windows. Most bookshelves had books on them, but she spotted lp's and cd's as well. Thousands of them.

Inside one of the white shelves was a fancy music installation. The only black thing in a sea of white.

Some small ottomans and one larger bed-sized one were put seemingly randomly in the room. They were all grey. The larger one had several books stacked on it.

Next to the door was the only part that had no bookshelves. It showed an old desk with, obviously, large stacks of books on it. Above it was a big flat-screen tv attached to the wall.

It was positioned so he could sit on his couch/bed and watch it.

"So I was right about Netflix?"

"Only Netflix, not Netflix and chill," he said.

She rolled her eyes.

"So uhm, what do you read?" She asked.

"Everything."

He wasn't joking. She saw literally everything. Romance books were right next to Japanese manga which were stacked on top of Spanish and French books.

"How many languages do you speak?" She asked.

"Eight, nine if you count Klingon."

"I don't."

"Eight it is then."  
She moved to his music installation. Classical music, all of it.

Bella pressed play. A vaguely familiar waltz-song started playing.

Edward suddenly stood in front of her. He offered his hand. "Want to dance?"

"I uhm, I can't dance."  
"There's really nothing to it, just follow my lead."

"I always do." Their eyes locked for a second.

He pulled her closer. His hands went to her lower back. She was acutely aware of how close they were together as they slowly moved on the cadence of the music.

He radiated coldness, but for some reason, she felt really warm inside.

Suddenly, he stopped his movements.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I thought I smelled something."

"Smelled what?" Bella asked.

"Uhm, blood? Look, that's obviously not possible, you're not bleeding."

Bella turned bright red and looked away.

"Are you… well, is it-"

"Yes, Edward, I'm on my period."

"Oh. Well, this is awkward." He released her. Although he tried laughing it off, she could see his hands trembling a bit.

"Tell me about it," a cheerful voice said.

He spun around. His brother Emmett was standing in the doorway.

"How long have you been standing there?" Edward demanded.

"Just long enough," he chuckled. "Alice told us to come straight away." She saw Carlisle standing behind Emmett.

"What did she see?" Edward asked.

"She did not share the details, although I already know too much details right now."

"Can we not make this any more embarrassing please?" Bella said. She took Edward's hand. "I know you won't hurt me."

"Why do you think they are here?" Edward asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Alice can predict the future."

" _What_?"

"Her vision are subjective but they are usually correct," Edward explained. "She sent Carlisle here because she saw something."

"Yeah, actually I just tagged along," Emmett admitted, he came closer. "You are right, she does have a faint smell of blood on her."

Carlisle pushed past Emmett. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm fine," Bella insisted.

"Edward?"

Only now did she notice it. Edward was holding her hand quite tight. His free hand was balled into a fist and his eyes were focused on one spot. His eye color had shifted from gold to black. He really was restraining himself.

"I'm okay," he said. Slowly, he released her hand.

"I'll take you to the bathroom," Carlisle said. "I think we should be able to mask the scent with deodorant or something."

He guided her outside.

That was scary.

Well, it was a bit wishful thinking of course. To believe that a human could just walk into a house full of vampires without trouble.

"So, I assume vampires don't get their periods?" Bella asked, trying to defuse the tension.

"No," Carlisle said. "The poison kills all your egg cells."

"And you can't make new ones?"

"You never make new ones," Carlisle pointed out. "The amount of egg cells in a female body is fixed from birth. One starts to develop every month based upon hormonal cycles. But even if you used hormone therapy, all egg cells are dead, so it's no use."

"So no little half-vampire babies?" She asked.

"Maybe."

" _Maybe_?"

"It's never confirmed whether males are infertile as well."

"Oh."

"But it would be extremely hard for a male vampire to have sex with a human. Self-control and all that."

"I understand." Given how Edward had reacted upon being so close to her she could imagine that intimacy would be a problem.

"Here we are," Carlisle said. He pointed to a door.

"Thanks."

She went inside.

Bella sighed. She had not thought for one second that having her period would be a problem. But now that she considered it, it was blood just like any other. Edward had clearly said that the actual smell of blood would be a problem.

That did explain why Edward stayed away from everyone at school. Even if they weren't bleeding, there was always the possibility a girl was on her period.

She opened a closet and found deodorant. She could only hope that would be enough to mask the scent.

Someone knocked on the door. "Bella?" It was Edward.

"Yeah."

"I'm really sorry about uhm… you know."

"It's okay."

"I'll make it up to you. Let's go baseballing next time."

"Baseball?"

"Yes. We'll have to wait until it storms though."

She opened the door. "Why?"

He smiled. "You'll see."


End file.
